56 posts in this topic

I gravitate more to sports movies that tackle sports I actually like, and if a sport I don't really much care for, the story around it might matter, like the comic antics worked into THE LONGEST YARD.

As a hockey "freak", I do enjoy both SLAPSHOT and MIRACLE, the first because it IS a funny kinda satire on the sport, and the second because it WAS an actual event that made a huge impact even on people who DON'T like hockey.

But, SORRY Sarge, much as I like THE HUSTLER, I never considered straight pool a "sport". But yeah, I know that ESPN covers tournaments, but they also cover the WORLD SERIES OF POKER, so maybe we can include THE CINCINNATI KID and ROUNDERS to this list?

Movies about famous sports figures are OK too, but again subjective, as someone earlier mentioned possible movies about WILT CHAMBERLAIN and BILL RUSSELL , but as I find(and IMHO) basketball to be THE most boring sport ever, I wouldn't gravitate towards them. And..... NASCAR as a "sport"? I like JEFF DUNHAM's "Sweet Daddy Dee"'s take on it!

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But I disagree with you about snooker and pool. Billiards is 'mano a mano' and has a high degree of skill. And what it shows about the professional sporting culture --and the 'industry' of sport--is as cogent as what I see in a movie like 'Downhill Racer' (my #1 fave). The athlete --the career of the athlete-- is worthy subject matter. 'Reqium for a Heavyweight' demonstrates this.

Poker is a game because you play it sitting down. That's my criteria for determining 'game' vs 'sport'.

Golf would be a sport but one which doesn't make a good movie. There's 'Caddyshack' but that's just a comedy with greenskeeping underfoot.

'Banning' is an interesting flick about golf cheating--Robert Wagner stars. But not a hit film by any means.

I'm dubious as to whether there can ever be a good tennis movie. Jan Michael Vincent starred in one, but it was meh.

As for bowling, it takes Bill Murray to make a bowling movie even barely watchable.

I expect that --if it hasn't already happened--some ambitious contemporary female Hollywood director will eventually get around to making a high-profile, soppy, much-ballyhoo, social-justice biopic of Billy Jean King (vs Bobby Riggs) and it will be 'Oscar bait' for whatever year it appears.

(That's the trend lately, have you noticed? These 'exhumations' of old news stories that no one's thought about in yrs, resuscitates for the sake of gloating/hand-wringing and historic reenactment. 'Oh my goodness can you believe how chauvinists we ONCE WERE? Thank Heavens we have 'evolved' far beyond that place we were once in!'

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I remember Siskel & Ebert staring at the smugly-Coen-stylized "Kinky bowling warriors" scene, and--like most sober people watching Big Lebowski--shrugged, "So...what are we supposed to make of that?: That bowlers take themselves too seriously?"

(Basically, either you have the same love for the Coens that they have for themselves, or you DON'T.)

I'm not crazy about the Farrelly Brothers either, but at least they managed to make Kingpin before they burned themselves out and went mainstream.
And am I going to mention Dreamer as the low point of mid-late 70's underdog-sports movies, where we officially proclaimed the genre dead?...Nahh. 😛

3 hours ago, Sgt_Markoff said:

Agree basketball is boring as hell.

Unless it's the Pittsburgh Pisces, with Meadowlark Lemon up against Dr. J:

(The only time we saw Harlem Globetrotters moves onscreen outside of Saturday morning or Gilligan's Island.)

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Anyway yup. The Trotters are fun. I asked a colleague of mine about them recently, (he's a referee) and found out some of their backstory. What I wanted know is like, why aren't they more highly regarded? It seems to me as if a team that can do circus tricks with the ball should be the most celebrated franchise in the sport.

Re: 'Fish that Saved Pittsburgh' is that the one with Gabe Kotter as the coach? Wait, Gabe Kaplan. Kaplan not Kotter. Eh well whatever throwaway movie that was, there were at least two hilarious scenes in it I really savor.

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Anyway yup. The Trotters are fun. I asked a colleague of mine about them recently, (he's a referee) and found out some of their backstory. What I wanted know is like, why aren't they more highly regarded? It seems to me as if a team that can do circus tricks with the ball should be the most celebrated franchise in the sport.

Most of the circus tricks aren't in the rules, so once black players could get in the NBA, there was no need for "negro-league" basketball or baseball (qv. Bingo Long's Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings) except as exhibition teams.

And never had a better dream-team than the 70's lineup most of us children of 70's TV-culture grew up with--I'd forgotten Meadowlark's crazy ball control or bouncing a free-throw.

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Re: 'Fish that Saved Pittsburgh' is that the one with Gabe Kotter as the coach? Wait, Gabe Kaplan. Kaplan not Kotter. Eh well whatever throwaway movie that was, there were at least two hilarious scenes in it I really savor.

"Fast Break", and no. "Pittsburgh" was the one with Stockard Channing as the astrologist/sports-nut who coaches the team, and Jonathan Winters as the token dopey-white owner.

Well Sarge & Eric, here's where we amicably drift apart.
I enjoyed both the "Big Lebowski" and "Kingpin" (they made me laugh with their silliness). And I readily admit to having "enjoyed" other works by the Farrelly and Coen brothers as well.
i.e. the Farrelly's "There's Something About Mary," & "Shallow Hal," etc.
And, the Coen's "Blood Simple," "Fargo," "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," "No Country for Old Men," "True Grit" (2010 interpretation), "Unbroken," & "Hail, Caesar!" immediately come to mind.
I suppose it might be their satirical sense of humor which appeals to me and that I can relate to. But, for whatever the reasons, a few of these are among my favorite rewatchables.

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Well Sarge & Eric, here's where we amicably drift apart.
I enjoyed both the "Big Lebowski" and "Kingpin" (they made me laugh with their silliness). And I readily admit to having "enjoyed" other works by the Farrelly and Coen brothers as well.
i.e. the Farrelly's "There's Something About Mary," & "Shallow Hal," etc.
And, the Coen's "Blood Simple," "Fargo," "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," "No Country for Old Men," "True Grit" (2010 interpretation), "Unbroken," & "Hail, Caesar!" immediately come to mind.
I suppose it might be their satirical sense of humor which appeals to me and that I can relate to. But, for whatever the reasons, a few of these are among my favorite rewatchables.

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Well Sarge & Eric, here's where we amicably drift apart.
I enjoyed both the "Big Lebowski" and "Kingpin" (they made me laugh with their silliness). And I readily admit to having "enjoyed" other works by the Farrelly and Coen brothers as well.
i.e. the Farrelly's "There's Something About Mary," & "Shallow Hal," etc.
And, the Coen's "Blood Simple," "Fargo," "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," "No Country for Old Men," "True Grit" (2010 interpretation), "Unbroken," & "Hail, Caesar!" immediately come to mind.
I suppose it might be their satirical sense of humor which appeals to me and that I can relate to. But, for whatever the reasons, a few of these are among my favorite rewatchables.

I am with you on liking the Coen Brothers. I like almost every movie they have made. I would add "Raising Arizona","A Serious Man", and "The Man Who Wasn't There" to your list. It is not only the satirical sense of humor I like but their dead accurate ear for regional and period dialogue. I know they primarily use the same ensemble of actors, but I think their casting of secondary roles is perfect.

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I believe there was talk earlier of the topic of Motor Racing in this thread.

And so, in this regard I would also advise others who have never watched this one...

...to also seek it out.

Anthony Hopkins plays New Zealander Burt Munro, a middle-aged man obsessed with making his old 1920 Indian motorcycle as fast as it can possibly go, and so custom builds his machine in his native land in hopes of one day setting speed records at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats four decades after his motorcycle had left the Massachusetts-based(at the time) Indian Motorcycle factory.

Now, you might think this movie would only appeal to the gearheads out there, but you'd be wrong.

The manner in which Aussie/Kiwi film director Roger Donaldson unfolds his film of Munro's obsession actually becomes both an excellent human interest story and a fine road picture. On occasion, a light touch of humor is also well utilized within it.

(...even my wife who really isn't into motorcycles as much as I've always been, enjoyed this movie a lot when we went to see it back in 2005 upon its initial release to theaters)

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I can name two more TV movie rec's ....both starring Michael Moriarty.

'Bang the Drum Slowly' --based on a true story as I recall. Baseball drama. Co-stars some kid named Robert DeNiro.

'The Meanest Season'...tv movie about hockey violence. Although it seems unrelated, its eerily reminiscent of a real life tragedy that occurred in a game one night.

three-fer here: who could forget 'Brian's Song'? Don't call me a girly man if you don't revere that flick...that film is a national institution. James Caan and Billy Dee Williams, can you stand it? You should be bawling your eyes out.

Against all credulity, I can even cite yet another great TV movie before I close this post: Peter Strauss' kick-butt performance as a state pen inmate in 'The Jericho Mile'. Renowned! Also based in fact!

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The Coens' films are the kind of product wherein even looking at a single frame or still of the style of photography they use, makes me wince. Similar to the effect I get from even just a glance at a Tarantino picture. Just one single frame makes me blanche.

No, not the kind of blanche 'who always depends on the kindness of strangers', but yeah I am sure I would have to depend on the kindness of strangers if ever I had to sit through 24 frames per second (@ 90 minutes per) of the work of these churls....I'd have to depend on strangers to carry me out of the theater and airlift me to an ICU...

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The Coens' films are the kind of product wherein even looking at a single frame or still of the style of photography they use, makes me wince. Similar to the effect I get from even just a glance at a Tarantino picture. Just one single frame makes me blanche.

No, not the kind of blanche 'who always depends on the kindness of strangers', but yeah I am sure I would have to depend on the kindness of strangers if ever I had to sit through 24 frames per second (@ 90 minutes per) of the work of these churls....I'd have to depend on strangers to carry me out of the theater and airlift me to an ICU...

And yet ironically, a plot contrivance just outrageous enough in concept that it in fact SOUNDS like one that the Coen Bros might or could tackle sometime in the future!

LOL

(...and sorry Sarge, but contrary to what would evidently be YOUR belief here, one I personally think they'd probably do justice to...so THERE!!!)😜

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I can name two more TV movie rec's ....both starring Michael Moriarty.

'Bang the Drum Slowly' --based on a true story as I recall. Baseball drama. Co-stars some kid named Robert DeNiro.

Bang the Drum Slowly is not a TV movie, unless you're referring to the 1956 version with Paul Newman.

1 hour ago, Sgt_Markoff said:

The Coens' films are the kind of product wherein even looking at a single frame or still of the style of photography they use, makes me wince. Similar to the effect I get from even just a glance at a Tarantino picture. Just one single frame makes me blanche.

No, not the kind of blanche 'who always depends on the kindness of strangers', but yeah I am sure I would have to depend on the kindness of strangers if ever I had to sit through 24 frames per second (@ 90 minutes per) of the work of these churls....I'd have to depend on strangers to carry me out of the theater and airlift me to an ICU...

I'd like to think that any bystanders would enjoy watching you writhe around in pain.

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No one with normal, healthy, functional legs willingly has them destroyed, severed, or crushed in order to excel at a wheelchair version of any sport. The distinction remains in place even in the face of wilful misinterpretation...

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Let me guess: you're one of those people who uses "fiancee" to refer to either a man or a woman

I don't recall ever having used that word. I've no experience with the term. Not sure what I would resort to. Instead of 'blanche' (last night) I might've chosen 'wilt' or 'cringe' or 'barf' -- but 'blanche' gave me more amusement. More options. I was in a "South'ron" turn of mind...

Anyway yeah I insist their movies all look like they were whipped up by college frat-boys. Immature, tinny, overly-exaggerated, crass, trying-too-hard-to-be-hip, sugar-coated, sticky-with-MSG. To my eyes, strictly to my eyes; mind you. Everything they do looks like a package of Frito-Lay Funyuns.